


Home Remedy

by track_04



Series: Beauty in the Breakdown [1]
Category: Johnny's Entertainment, NewS (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-09
Updated: 2010-02-09
Packaged: 2017-11-14 17:37:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/517805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/track_04/pseuds/track_04
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryo is sick. Massu has soup. Cuddling ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home Remedy

"Ryo--"

"I'm not going home." Ryo didn't bother looking up from the computer screen or the report that he was pouring over, ignoring the very pregnant silence in the air around him.

"You're going to make everyone else sick."

Ryo glanced up at the other man just long enough to roll his eyes. "If that's the case then I've already infected everyone I'm going to, so there's no risk staying any longer. _You_ of all people should know that. Or did they not bother teaching you that in medical school?"

Pi looked slightly sheepish at that. Good. "Fine, then. You'll contaminate the samples."

"All I'm doing today is reports and I'm wearing a mask. The risk isn't any higher than normal. Try again."

Pi sighed, crossed his arms across his chest and leaned against the door frame, face thoughtful. Ryo went back to his paperwork, satisfied that he'd won this round. He was almost finished with the backlog of path reports that needed to be signed off on by the end of the day--the reports that weren't going to get done with Pi hovering over him like this.

"If you don't go home, I'm going to tell Koyama you're sick."

"You do that and he'll spend so much time mothering me that he won't get any of his work done, either."

"I'm willing to take that risk."

Ryo met Pi's eyes then, swearing softly at the look the other was giving him. He knew that look, had seen the other use it on the new interns right before he got fed up with them and turned them over to Jun--the only person that Ryo actually found intimidating here and the last one he wanted to talk to right now (mostly because Jun had the actual authority to send him home _without pay_ ).

There was no way he was getting out of this. Pi wasn't bluffing.

Son of a bitch.

"Let me finish this batch of reports," he grumbled as he looked back to his computer screen. "Twenty more minutes, then I'll go home."

"I'm sending Koyama down here in ten."

Ryo scowled, but eleven minutes later when Koyama walked into his office, he was already gone.

\--

Ryo hated being sick. It wasn't so much that being sick sucked (because it did), as that he hated the inconvenience of it. He was never sick unless he was up to his eyeballs in things to do, which would be exactly why he was laying at home on his couch, watching awful daytime variety shows instead of at work, making his way through the stacks of reports that needed to be completed and samples waiting for analysis that had managed to pile up over the holidays.

No, he couldn't get sick when there was a lull and things eased up a bit, he had to get sick right in the middle of January, right when all the post holiday suicides and violent deaths started pouring in, giving enough work to justify the 60 hour weeks they all tended to pull this time of year.

Ryo threw his arm over his eyes and groaned, ignoring the hoarseness in his voice and the rattle it brought out in his chest.

Fuck this. He didn't care what Pi threatened him with--he was going to work tomorrow, dammit. He was just considering texting Pi to tell him as much--the bastard--when there was a knock on the door.

He glared at it, contemplated ignoring it entirely but another knock came after the first, too hesitant to be Pi or anyone truly irritating come to check up on him.

"What?" Ryo's greeting was less than civil as he yanked open his door, a blanket slung across his shoulders and a sour look on his face. He had his shoulders set and an excuse on his tongue to send whoever it was packing, but it died when a familiar, if uncertain smile greeted him.

"Ah... I thought you could use this." Massu's smile relaxed a bit as he ran his eyes up and down Ryo (no doubt taking in how awful he looked. Bastard.) and Ryo felt his cheeks flush slightly at the scrutiny.

"What is it?" Ryo relaxed his shoulders a bit and gave the container that Massu was holding up a suspicious look.

"Mustard soup. It's good for congestion."

"Koyama and Pi sent you?"

Massu laughed, the sound warm and rich in the recycled air between them. "No. Well... not really. Koyama wanted to come by, but I told him I'd stop by since it's on my way home. Pi thought it was a good idea."

"He was probably afraid I'd kill Koyama if he came by," Ryo mumbled, moving back into the apartment, not bothering to see if Massu followed him. He could hear shuffling in the entryway, like the other was taking off his shoes, so he was going to assume so. "And then he'd have to do the autopsy."

Massu chuckled in the doorway behind him and Ryo felt the corners of his lips twitch in spite of himself as he settled back onto his couch. "Pi didn't ask how you knew where I lived?"

Massu was done with his shoes and making his way into Ryo's kitchen, no doubt seeking out utensils for whatever kind of magical illness curing soup it was he had with him. "No. Too busy trying to finish up reports, I think."

"Serves him right. I told him not to send me home." Ryo pulled the blanket tighter around himself and closed his eyes, ignoring his body's sudden urge to sneeze, as if it were trying to prove Pi right or make a liar out of him. Traitor.

"They'll be there when you get back."

"Since I'm going in tomorrow, yeah."

"Tomorrow." Massu's voice was amused as he took a seat next to Ryo, offering him the soup with a smile.

Ryo slipped his arm out of his blanket cocoon reluctantly and took it from him, eyeing it suspiciously before he took a bite. "Ugh... what the hell is this stuff? It's awful."

"Mustard soup," Massu repeated his earlier explanation with a soft laugh, his hand sliding up to brush Ryo's hair out of his eyes and fiddle with the edges of the blanket.

"You couldn't just bring me cold medicine like a normal person? I thought you were a scientist."

"I brought some of that, too."

"And you let me eat this crap?" Ryo shoved the bowl back at him with a scowl. He was tempted to punch him, but it was hard to punch anyone who was smiling at you like that, even if they were a jerk who fed you awful tasting things for their own amusement. "I think I'll take the pills."

Massu chuckled softly. "You know, this soup really does help."

"It tastes awful," Ryo repeated, frown deepening. "I'd rather have pills."

Massu shrugged and Ryo pretended that the dizzy feeling in his head had everything to do with being sick and nothing to do with the look Massu was giving him, half-smile and half knowing smirk. "Pills will just put you to sleep. How are you going to keep me company if you're asleep?"

Ryo watched as Massu lifted a spoonful of the soup and held it out to him, that same stupid look on his face. He huffed and opened his mouth reluctantly. "I hate you."

"I know." Massu laughed, his grin lighting up his whole face as he fed Ryo a few more spoonfuls, looking far too much like he was _enjoying_ this. Ryo nudged the other's thigh with his foot, foregoing the kick that he told himself he wanted to give him because he didn't really want his couch covered in that god awful soup.

A few more spoonfuls was all that Ryo could take before he clamped his mouth shut and shook his head, ignoring the look that Massu was giving him as he bumped the spoon against Ryo's lips playfully. He did it a few more times--just to be irritating, Ryo was sure-- before he took it away and rose to return it and the rest of the awful soup to Ryo's kitchen. He came back with a glass of water and a smile, looking entirely too pleased with himself as he reclaimed his seat.

Ryo took the water, giving the other a half-hearted glare as he finished half the glass in one go. "You'd better be staying the night to justify me eating that. I don't even think it helped."

"That was the plan. I thought I might take the day off tomorrow, too." Massu reached up to adjust the blanket around Ryo's shoulders carefully, offering another smile that had Ryo pretending it was the congestion making him feel light headed and nothing else. "Someone needs to be here to make sure you finish your soup."

Ryo scowled, messing up Massu's work with the blanket as he leaned over and settled his head against the other man's shoulder. "I really do hate you."

He couldn't see Massu's smile from his vantage point this time, but he could hear it in his voice and that was more than enough. "I know."

"And I hope I'm infecting you. You should have worn a mask."

Massu slid an arm around Ryo's shoulders and chuckled softly. "I didn't see any point since you already exposed everyone when you showed up to work."

Ryo turned his head to bury his face against Massu's shoulder, effectively hiding his grin as he weighed whether more of that soup and reports piling up on his desk all day tomorrow was worth more of this.


End file.
